British India Society

The British Indian Association was established on 31 October 1851. Its formation was a major event of 19th-century India. Its establishment meant Indians had come together and could no longer be ignored. It developed enormous hopes amongst the Indians about their future.

The first committee of the association was composed of : Raja Radhakanta Deb – President, Raja Kalikrishna Deb – Vice-President, Debendranath Tagore – secretary, Digambar Mitra – Asst Secretary, members – Raja Staya Saran Ghosal, Harakumar Tagore, Prasanna Coomar Tagore, Ramanath Tagore, Jay Krishna Mukerjee, Asutosh Deb, Harimohan Sen, Ramgopal Ghosh, Umesh Chandra Dutta (Rambagan), Krishna Kishore Ghosh, Jagadananda Mukhopadhyay, Peary Chand Mitra, and Sambhunath Pandit.

Most of the early leaders of the British Indian Association were conservatives by tradition and temperament, although there were some progressive like Ramgopal Ghosh and Peary Chand Mitra.

It was formed by the amalgamation of the Landholders’ Society and the Bengal British India Society.

The Zamindari Association, which was later renamed Landholders’ Society, was established in 1838 by Dwarkanath Tagore, Prasanna Kumar Tagore, Radhakanta Deb, Ramkamal Sen and Bhabani Charan Mitra.

It has been described as “the first organisation of Bengal with distinct political object.” The society virtually became defunct after the death of Dwarkanath Tagore.

The British India Society was set up in 1839 in England primarily as a result of the efforts of William Adam, who had come to India and befriended Ram Mohan Roy. On his return to England he took up India’s cause. Others involved were George Thompson, William Ednis, and Major General Briggs. They organised meetings and enlightened people about conditions in India. In 1841, it started publishing a newspaper named British Indian Advocate, edited by Professor William Adam

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